Computer and television networks have become the predominant means through which individuals receive media content, such as entertainment and information. As technology has improved, media content providers, using computers and television, have been able to provide more and more media content to larger and larger audiences. Broadcast, cable, and satellite television providers transmit television signals containing vast amounts of content, such as movies, news, special interest shows, audio, advertising, and home shopping programs, among others. It is not uncommon for cable and satellite television viewers to have over one hundred channels to choose from. Internet service providers similarly transmit vast amounts of content of various types to computers via the Internet. Computer users have thousands of Internet sites to choose from. When a computer user accesses an Internet site, the user is often provided a large amount of content, such as advertisements, promotions, links, and others.
One problem with current approaches toward media content distribution is that there is too much content provided to any given user. In an attempt to maximize viewership and/or profits, content providers typically transmit content to as many viewers as possible, who are able to receive the content (e.g., via television signals, internet transmissions, etc.). From the user's perspective, the massive amount of transmitted content results in an “information overload” effect. Viewers are inundated with such a vast amount of content that effectively choosing what they most want to view becomes difficult. Viewers simply do not have time to view all of the content, and therefore attempt to be selective. Moreover, for any given viewer, the content that streams into the viewer's home includes a large amount of content that the viewer will not want to watch.
Most computer and television users know a priori (i.e., before receiving it) of certain categories of content that they will not want to view based only on the type of content. For example, many users, particularly parents, do not want pornographic content to be an option for selection on their television or computer. As another example, many users may not want to view sports, while other viewers may know a priori that they do not want to view any sports, except bowling. Many viewers may know before hand that they will never choose to watch cooking shows. Thus, television and computer users frequently know ahead of time of certain categories of media content that they will not want to view. Unfortunately, notwithstanding users' a priori knowledge, content providers typically broadcast the same content to everyone. For any given user, much of that content is unwanted.
In the area of broadcast television, a user typically cannot easily block unwanted content. When a user receives a television signal containing a wide variety of content, there will typically be unwanted content mixed with content the user does want. The user typically must become aware of the unwanted content, and learn enough about the unwanted content in order to make the decision to block the content by, for example, changing the channel. Since unwanted content is often mixed with wanted content, a user typically cannot simply reject all content from a given television station without also rejecting desired content. For example, although a user may have the option to deselect a cable channel through the user's cable television provider, if the user does so, he/she may be unknowingly giving up wanted content. Thus, simply deselecting a channel does not adequately solve the problem of blocking content.
One possible solution, in the area of television, is a programming guide (PG). A PG typically presents all available television options in a scrolling fashion across the TV screen. PGs are difficult to read and confusing because they simultaneously present too much information and too little information for a discriminating viewer. PGs present too much information because they provide descriptions for every item of available content, including unwanted content. The user typically must read through all the descriptions to determine his/her preferred content. So many channels are typically presented on a PG that a viewer could easily miss a desired show while reading all the options, many of which are unwanted. PGs present too little information for each available content item because the descriptions are necessarily short due to limited space and time in the guide. PG descriptions are frequently not descriptive enough to allow a discriminating viewer to effectively determine whether any particular content item should be blocked.
On the Internet, content providers attempt to direct content to users based on past selections that the user has made. Based on user selections, the content provider transmits a unique piece of data to users' computers, so that the content provider can later recognize when a user revisits a site. This unique piece of data is often referred to as a ‘cookie.’ When the content provider recognizes a cookie that was previously stored on the user's computer, the content provider may direct content to the user based on the user's past selections. Although this approach may tend to block content that the user does not want, many users find it intrusive and a violation of their privacy because the cookie is stored on the user's computer without the user's knowledge of it, and the cookie is later transmitted to the content provider, again without the user's knowledge.
Unfortunately, traditional methods and systems do not effectively block content from being presented to the user that is known a priori to be unwanted. Prior approaches toward blocking unwanted content have either put the burden on the user to block content by reading confusing guides and sorting through hundreds of options, which wastes valuable time, or violates users' privacy by downloading information unknown to the user and/or accessing the user's client device without the user knowledge. Thus, a need exists for content to be automatically blocked so that users are not burdened with wasting user time sorting through vast amounts of content, which is known a priori to be unwanted.
Even if unwanted content is effectively blocked, such as by the user changing the channel, the user typically wants alternative desired content. Prior approaches require that the user exert effort and time finding alternative content; e.g., the user must find a new channel to watch. Frequently, while finding alternative content, the user views several unwanted content items (e.g., advertisements, movies, etc.) before finding satisfactory alternative content, for example, while the user is changing television channels. Consequently, existing methods do not adequately provide users with alternative, substitute content without significant effort on the part of the user.
Furthermore, when the user transitions to alternative content, the user is currently not notified when the prior unwanted content is finished. Using current approaches, no way exists for a user to automatically return to previous content when blocked content ends. Thus, a user may need to continuously switch back and forth between two channels to determine whether the blocked content has ended. Currently, due to the significant effort of the user in switching back and forth between channels, the user may miss desired content that follows the unwanted content because the user is unaware that the unwanted content is finished.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been developed.